- Lots of repeated videos, counselors in back of the room playing on their phones.

- $100 of your EBT will be given to JOTC.

- Lectures so long and boring that its hard to sit through even when you wanted to go to treatment.

- Food lines that begin 20 mins before. First few in line get more food than others behind them.

- They mess up on appointments/doc visits. Stay on top of things yourself by being adamant.

- Endless mentions of the Name God.

- Staff to say "no" a fair amount, even if it leaves you bewildered.

James Oldham Treatment Center

Things to bring with you to JOTC:
(I VERY much recommend)

Your own blanket/comforter & pillow.
A Watch, because you won't your phone.
Bug Spray, unless you have a passion for mosquitoes.
Bar of Soap, unless you like greasy body wash.
Appropriate clothing for Desert climate.
Twice the tobacco you think you'll need. (You can't go get more)
Small Alarm clock, to get where you need on time. (No clock/radios allowed)
Lots of air plugs, unless you are the inconsiderate ass in the room keeping everyone awake.

What to expect
This is a 8 room facility. 6-10 guys per room.
They keep you busy. From 9am-4pm you have Group, Lecture, Lunch, Group, Lecture then @ 7/8 AA.
The will assign a bed and you will have a lock over one drawer.

Though the above post may be extreme in it's nature. (Perhaps just a single bad experience) I WOULD have to agree on the extremes of Religion in this facility. I knew you could not go to a treatment center without the higher-power talk, however my experience, though overall positive, was one where I felt like the only non-believer. I felt I was wrong, which was an odd feeling since I use common brain functions and logic mixed with scientific evidence and my own research into life history and space to form opinions I deem TRUTH, whereas others seemed to do as others for the mere fact that they know not what else to do...

A few years ago, I went to drug rehab. Went in an atheist, and came out an atheist. However, I think the state did wrong by sending me to a spiritual-based 12 step rehab that pushed the Christian god. Here’s a recap I wrote upon returning from there in 2007:

I went to a drug rehab for 28 days; 99% of the staff and residents were theists, and I was the only atheist. I could write a short book on the experiences, but let me start by saying I had to defend myself against ad hominem attacks, daily Pasqual’s Wagers, AA meeting that where more like jail house church, and lectures from a xian staff member making derogatory comments against atheists like “Believing nothing gets you nothing…and you will go to hell.”

The James Oldham Treatment Center is the low end of treatment centers; this is the end of the road for most users. It’s located in Buena, WA, which is south of Yakima, about thirty minutes. The area is one trailer park ghetto after another, and there is more cocaine, meth, and heroin then the cities of Seattle and Portland combined. This is on the major smuggling route by traffickers from Mexico, which distributes all the drugs around Washington, Oregon, Vancouver, BC, and Idaho. The solution to this problem of addiction is a belief in god, according to JOTC. This isn’t really a faith-based drug rehab, but called a “spiritual based treatment facility”. They define “spiritual based” as: accepting god, “cleaning house”, and letting go. Prayers, after every class, group session, or AA/NA meeting.

The NA meeting weren’t that offensive. The chair person was Native American, and was into some Native religion, saying “great elder spirit, great grandfather…” He even stated people without faith would not be judged because we all suffer from drugaddiction, yadda, yadda, yadda.

We residents ran the AA meetings, and counselors didn’t attend. Keep in mind that most residents here come out of the Union Gospel Mission, jail, prison, and the streets. Although I was not the only guy singled out; a Wiccan was put on the spot, and I jumped to his defense. Did you know Rational Response Squad and Infidel Guy are offensive URL’s and slogans?

Oh yeah, one morning before the 8:00am meeting I wrote, ‘god is just pretend,’ and ‘Fighting to free humanity from the mind disorder known as theism’ on the chalk board, along with the URL’s. This started a fight amongst residents, to say the least. I came close to stomping the shit out of some Mormon, but kept it to verbal abuse. I way I saw it was, the theists put their Jesus crap on the chalk board every morning, so I thought it’s only fair to have free access.
I got singled out for not praying. That wasn’t anything of significance, but residents began to question my beliefs. I did claim to have a higher power in logical thinking, science, and humanity; however this didn’t sit well with most residents and reacted with trying to prove god; praying for me; and even one fundamentalist Christian said ad verbatim, “This place does not belong to the atheist and Secular Humanists. This is the house of god, and you better recognize!”

Of course, I told him to fuck off. Nevertheless, this wasn’t the only time.
Oh his defense of god, counselor John Ingram at James Oldham Treatment Center (JOTC) used this:
“[A] hundred years ago if you told somebody you believed in a cell phone, they laughed at you. So don’t tell me god’s impossible, you never know…”

The next sentence out of his mouth was:
“God is a fact, just hope you’re right. After this life we will take notes with each other and see who has it best…”
He even claimed there was meth in hell, and people walking around tweaked out. I asked him for a GPS location, or location in space. He than claimed he didn’t know, to be followed by saying what he was saying were facts. To end the lecture with a prayer right out of Sunday morning church added to the sermon-like lecture.

I give the guy a break though; he didn’t sober up until age 50. Had kind of a fucked up life, and may still be inept with reasoning skills. This, nonetheless, is all you need to be a drug & alcohol counselor. I feel a counselor should have, at least, a BA in psychology or sociology; maybe even cultural anthropology. Counselors are getting a certificate from the local community college to indoctrinate addicted patients into 12-step meeting and religion.
​

So anyways, it been almost three years without cocaine and alcohol, and I’ve done the task without god. So is a lawsuit possible, in regards to JOTC?